And so the Dak Prescott contract super saga comes to a blessed end. For now.
Over the weekend, Jerry Jones put his money where his mouth was and proved his vocal faith in Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, signing the former Offensive Rookie of the Year to a wildly lucrative four-year deal worth $160 million, with $120 million guaranteed. And while this will silence the pundits for a while on the relationship between the two and the situation in Dallas, the move is bound to send ripples throughout the NFL landscape.
The 2021 NFL offseason has been unusually turbulent, with several high-profile quarterbacks possibly on the move and several teams trying to vie for their services. Russell Wilson is seemingly on the outs with Seattle, Dak Prescott up until this point was seemingly floating in space just waiting for Jerry Jones to come sit at the table with him, the Jets are in the middle of an identity crisis with Sam Darnold, the 49ers and Patriots are seemingly unhappy with their high-profile signal-callers, and the Bears are basically spraying and praying for a savior.
But all of these situations pale in comparison with the mess that is unfolding in Houston with superstar quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is in the middle of his own kingmaking contract. He's currently demanding a trade on the grounds of broken promises, bad personnel decisions (Somewhere, Cliff Kingsbury and the Cardinals are cackling), and just the aftertaste of Bill O'Brien's weird coaching and even weirder decision-making off the field.
This is of course, understandable for Deshaun Watson to ask for. He is a top five talent at the position, and has been dragging Houston up to mediocrity. He sees that they gave up his best weapon for a song, that there is no help on the offensive line, and to top it all, he saw the team renege on a promise to involve him in decision-making.
He looks out into the rest of the league, and he sees both better (Andy Reid consulting with Mahomes about the drafting of Clyde Edwards-Helaire) and worse (arming Dak Prescott with a brilliant offensive line and multiple dynamic weapons in the air) quarterbacks than him being shown that they are valued by their organizations. And where does that leave him? As the sole talent propping up an otherwise derelict franchise, eating up sacks like they're potato chips, wondering if he's about to be the next coming of Andrew Luck.
And now, this new deal for Dak Prescott pops up on Watson's radar, and you'd best believe that he demands either or both of a restructured deal and/or a voice in the war room of whatever team is lucky to have him. As for whatever the Houston Texans have asset-wise, they just lost out on another potential suitor for Watson, no matter how small (Dallas was rumored to have been targeting Seattle's Russell Wilson for Prescott's successor before they re-signed the former OROY).
This just means that the Bears, Jets, Jaguars, and 49ers (particularly the Bears and 49ers) have added firepower in negotiations. Add in Watson's presumptive feelings about being possibly undervalued when compared to Dak Prescott, and you can take the Jets off of that list, since they simply would not be able to afford a restructured deal.
Houston better think of something is soon, because a return for Deshaun Watson is dwindling in value as their ineptitude is slowly uncovered. Meanwhile, Matt Nagy and the Bears are licking their chops, ready to pounce.
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